UAE Women have been blessed with plenty of excellent captains of late and Esha Oza is the latest one to join the elite list. Having led the side for three years now, Oza has not just delivered with both bat and ball, but has also delivered as captain. Now, UAE are just one game away from scripting history and making it to the Women’s Asia Cup final for the first time.
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In a chat with The Crichub, Oza talks about how much she is enjoying leading this young side, her journey, the team’s show at the Asia Cup and more.
The Crichub (TCH): You had a brilliant 2025, where you slammed nearly 800 runs at a strike rate of 146 and an average of 41. It was perhaps one of your best years in T20Is. Tell me about those performances last year, where you scored 2 centuries and 3 fifties and what sort of work goes behind such consistency.
Esha Oza (EO): It’s just about keeping on doing what you want to. I mean, keeping on working on the basics.
And yeah, just keeping on putting in the hard work day in, day out. And then, yeah, results will come. It’s not necessary that every time you put in the hard work and results come immediately. But it’s about being consistent with your efforts. And then, yeah, eventually it will work out.
I’ve been working a lot on my bowling skills as well. Like, I didn’t bowl that much. I wasn’t focusing much on my bowling before. But yeah, I’ve tried to work a lot more on my bowling skills as well recently. And yeah, it’s been a great journey. I think it’s been a great journey for our team in general.
We’ve got to play a lot more against bigger sides. And yeah, it’s a growing experience and our team is definitely loving that.
TCH: You took charge of the UAE Women’s team in 2023 and how has this journey of leading the team been for you? Do you think captaincy has brought out your best in terms of batting as well?
EO: Yeah, I really love leading. I like taking that extra responsibility for the team. And yeah, it’s something that’s helped me ensure that I put in even more time on the sport and I get even more dedicated to what I’m doing. And it’s something that I really enjoy doing as well.
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It’s not something that gives me additional pressure or something that would put me down. It’s helped me become better as a player. It’s helped me understand people better. It’s helped me develop life skills as well.
TCH: How are you enjoying bowling in this tournament? Because in every match I’ve seen, we’ve got wickets. And here, you’ve got runs also in the last match. Also, in the last two sessions, I’ve observed that you have gone for the big hits against throw-downs. So, how has your experience been this tournament so far?
EO: It’s been good. These wickets are helping spinners. So, I’ve been trying to use the surface a bit more.
So, there is a bit in the surface for the spinners. So, it’s about trying to use that as much as you can. So, that’s what we’ve been speaking as a group as well, within our spinners group.
And obviously, as batters, we know that the power for this wicket is around 120-140. So, that’s something we’re working towards and we’re working towards how we can go above par. So, that’s something we’re trying to do in the nets as well.
TCH: You started this tournament with a disappointing defeat against the defending champions Sri Lanka. But now, you’re just a match away or a win away from qualifying for the semi-final for the first time in the history of Asia Cup. So, what is your preparation for the next match [vs Bangladesh] and how do you feel?
EO: I think Bangladesh are going to come harder as well. So, we have to come even harder. So, that’s it. We just want to play our best cricket. We’re not going to look around what other strengths are. But we just want to make sure that we do what’s well within our capacity.
So, play to our strengths, do what we do well. And if we do what we do well, we know that we can make a difference and hopefully get those two points tomorrow.
TCH: Do you think that the middle-order is a bit of a concern for your team?
EO: We can’t judge based on these two games. Because again, conditions have been different and we’ve been put under pressure a bit as well. But again, it’s about stepping up, taking that responsibility.
We’ve spoken of that within our group. And it’s just about those who get a chance; they need to step up, take that responsibility. We’ve spoken about not losing wickets in clusters.
So, hopefully, we apply that in the game tomorrow, and that’s what will help us put on a better score.
TCH: So, can we expect India vs UAE semi-final?
EO: That’s what we’re hoping for, fingers crossed. We’ve come at this tournament to hopefully make it to the next stage. That’s what our goal was while coming into this tournament. And hopefully, we do that.
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